Bangladesh has made tremendous progress in the fields of health and sanitation. With a population of 149 million, it now has the highest life expectancy; the lowest fertility rate and the lowest mortality rate of children under five in South Asia (excepting Sri Lanka), although it spends less on health care than most neighbouring countries. Only 10% of the population in Bangladesh practices Open Defecation (OD) compared to 50% in India.

It is one of only six countries that are on track to achieve Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 on reducing child mortality and improving maternal health.

Emerging from the war of liberation in 1971, Bangladesh embraced a new more liberal identity, which manifested itself in a change in societal attitudes towards women, and girls’ education in particular.

A sanitary pad manufacturer and a human waste management company are among the nine winners of the Artha Venture Challenge (AVC) 2013. All of them will receive up to US$ 50,000 (INR 3 million) in funding from the Artha Platform subject to due diligence and investment approval.

Photo: Aakar Innovations

Award winner Aakar Innovations is a Delhi-based start-up that supplies raw materials and sanitary pad mini-factories to women’s groups in rural areas. Costing US$ 5,000, each mini-factory can produce 1500-2000 pads per day, which is enough to provide work to 10-30 women. The biodegradable Anandi pads are made from agri-waste. One pack of 8 pads sells for 20 rupees (US$ 0.33), said to be 40% less than branded mass-market products.

Banka BioLoo is a women led business from Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, providing sustainable solutions for sanitation and wastewater managment based on biotechnology. It manufactures, supplies and installs biodigesters for on-site treatment of human waste.

The Artha Venture Challenge (AVC) is funded by the Artha Platform and its founding organisation Rianta Philanthropy Ltd. AVC 2013 was inspired by the UK Big Venture Challenge run by UnLtd UK.

The Artha Platform is a members-only online community and network linking impact investors/donors, social entrepreneurs and capacity building support organisations working on or in India.

Source:

Anand Rai, A look at the 9 social ventures that will each receive $50K in funding as part of the Artha Venture Challenge 2013, techcircle.in, 11 Apr 2014

Excerpts – Gamal Albinsaid, a young Indonesian doctor, has recently been awarded the inaugural “Prince of Wales Young Sustainability Entrepreneur Prize” from the Prince of Wales. He was given the award during a dinner reception at the Buckingham Palace at the end of January. His innovative project helps the poorest communities gain access to health services and education through the collection and recycling of garbage called the Garbage Clinical Insurance enterprise.

Photo: Courtesy of Indonesia Medika/Gamal AlbinsaidMr Gamal Albinsaid received his award from HRH Prince of Wales during a dinner reception at the Buckingham palace at the end of January 2014.

Mr Albinsaid, currently the chief executive officer (CEO) of Indonesia Medika, is the Founder of the Indonesian social enterprise Garbage Clinical Insurance (GCI). He was inspired to set up the micro-insurance programme to empower people to take an active role in managing their waste while improving their sanitation.

The 24-year-old doctor set up the initiative in 2009 when he was still a medical student at the Brawijaya University in Malang, East Java province. Mr Albinsaid was saddened upon hearing the death of a three year old child from diarrhea because the parents could not afford to take the child to any clinic for help.

The GCI has help communities in need turn in their household waste into something that could improve their health.

The scheme provides insurance to members of the clinic in return for their garbage. Every weekend, members bring their organic and non-organic waste to a collection point near the clinic to be directly processed and sold.

Afterward, collected garbage is processed into money considered as “health fund premium” for all members.

Hi Eng. Mughal I very well agree with your observations. Tahunganh needs some assistance in substance. As far as I know, Dr. Barbara Senkwe PhD of USAID SUWASA has done such work in the South Sudan but I doubt if she is still available on her email address at bsenkwe@ard-suwasa.org as the project is winding up soon. We featured her article ‘An Emerging Fecal […]

Hi Virginia Thanks for your important work you are doing in Madagascar. The country was in focus in March this year as its president Mr. Hery Rajaonarimampianina became the first Chief of State in the world to sign a pledge in public to end open defecation. We presented a short mention of this in our Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene May-June 2015 editi […]

Hi Kris Thank you very much for your thoughts. We agree with your concerns. That's why we have given so much importance to develop the protocol so easy and cost effective which can potentially be done at the local level. However, phage therapy has been successful to treat diarrhoeal infection in human gut which is as complex as waste water system. Moreo […]

I request the users of this forum, especially the senior friends, to kindly help Hung, by responding to his survey. The survey is a bit long. He said he needs large data and a wider response. I know, PhD work requires lot of work. Like me, he is also from AIT, so, my request for his survey F H Mughal

Dear forum members, This study was done as a part of master thesis in my master degree program. Although it does have lot of initiatives to carry on this research. This business runs informally in the Bangalore city (and also might be in other cities of India), so it was a challenging task to get business details from the entrepreneurs. However, the research […]

Integration of Nutrition and WaSH programmes was the key topic discussed at the multi sectorial panel seminar hosted by Irish Aid, the IFGH and the Development Studies Association of Ireland on the 19th May.

Sustainability is without doubt one of the most burning subject matters that subsumes many of the issues that we are seeing in CLTS and wider WASH practice.On Wednesday 24th June, from 14.00-15.30 BST (convert to your time zone here), the CLTS Knowledge Hub will offer a webinar on the subject.

Over 50 female leaders from around the world recently published a declaration calling for the end of poor sanitation and hygiene in the developing world. Among those leaders are the first ladies of Madagascar and Malawi, both of whom announced the declaration in Washington, D.C.